Minor light of Hawai'i - Pepe'ekeo Point Lighthouse, Hawaii at Lighthousefriends.com

	Minor light of Hawai'i - Pepe'ekeo Point, HI

Description: Alia Point lies just under nine miles north of Hilo on the eastern coast of the Island of Hawai'i. In 1897, the Makahanaloa Light was established on a point roughly a half mile south of Alia Point. This beacon consisted of an open wooden-frame tower that stood forty feet tall and was surmounted by an enclosed lamp room. The light was kept by a worker at the nearby Pepe'ekeo Sugar Mill Company.

Pepe'ekeo Point Light Station
Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard
Not long after the Lighthouse Board took control of the Hawaiian aids to navigation in 1904, a new lighthouse was built to replace the original Makahanaloa Light. This new structure was known as the Alia Point Light though it stood near the same location as the former light. The new name didn't last too long as the light was soon referred to as the Pepe'ekeo Point Light.
David Kalili was keeper of the light from 1907 to 1913, and he was followed by George Brockman, who served until the light was automated in 1917. At that time, the lighthouse was a 75-foot pyramidal skeleton tower, and a keeper's dwelling was located just west of the light.
Sometime around 2004, the skeletal tower was replaced by a 75-foot metal pole, which displays two diamond-shaped daymarks in addition to a light.
Continental Pacific LLC, an Alabama-based, New Jersey-registered company, has purchased the land around Pepe'ekeo Point from the former sugar-growing giant C. Brewer and plans to develop some ninety-three lots in the area. Eleven of these lots, known as Pepeekeo Point North, are along the shoreline and surround the light. The company has apparently stated that public pedestrian access to the shore at the point will be permitted.
References

The Lighthouses of Hawai`i, Love Dean, 1986.

Location: Located on Pepe'ekeo Point, eight miles north of Hilo and just northeast of the town of Pepe'ekeo.
Latitude: 19.84729
Longitude: -155.0828

For a larger map of Minor light of Hawai'i - Pepe'ekeo Point Lighthouse, click the lighthouse in the above map or get a map from: Mapquest.

Travel Instructions: From Highway 19, just north of the town of Pepe'ekeo, turn east on Kaupakuea Homestead/Sugarmill Road and follow it for 1.5 miles towards the ocean. The road will pass an old sugar mill and then end at a fence short of the point. You can walk through a v-shaped gap in the fence to view the light.

The lighthouse is owned by the Coast Guard. Grounds open, tower closed.

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